Bank of Japan opens floodgates
This week, Haruhiko Kuroda, the new
governor of the Bank of Japan ,
launched perhaps the boldest ever experiment by the central bank of an
important country. It is not a revolution in monetary policy, since the BoJ is
following the intellectual lead of Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve. But it is a
revolution in Japanese thinking and in the magnitude of the planned action. The
Bank of Japan
risks doing too much. But Japan
already knows well the costs of doing too little. That lesson is one the European
Central Bank may yet learn.
The BoJ has promised to turn Japan ’s
slow-motion deflation into inflation of 2 per cent within two years. To achieve
this transformation it has now promised to raise purchases of government bonds
from a monthly rate of Y2tn ($21bn) to one of Y7tn, to double the average
maturity of new bond purchases to seven years and to double the monetary base
to Y270tn by the end of 2014.
The
upcoming lunar eclipse of 25 April is placed on the horizon axis at Tokyo giving it extra
significance. The eclipse is also in the
Taurus-Scorpio axis – a polarity associated with banks and monetary policies. Also,
a Mars-Saturn opposition straddles
the eclipse axis.
Caution is
the keyword under a Mars-Saturn opposition. When action (Mars) meets resistance
or fear (Saturn), some feel stopped in their tracks. Fear can prevent full
functioning. Authority figures or historical precedents may discourage you now,
actually reinforcing some feelings you are already having about yourself. Inner
energies (Mars) are struggling against
your inhibitions (Saturn). But if you're disciplined and can tap in to the core of this opposition responsibly,
stay positive, and move forward with deliberation a tremendous amount of energy will be available to you for
constructive long-term accomplishment [1].
Haruhiko
Kuroda (born October 25, 1944) the current Governor of the Bank of Japan is the
architect of the new looser monetary policy.
He has a Sun (1sc) – Mars (7sc) conjunction trine Saturn (10cn). A Mars-Saturn
trine would be a perfect combination for taking risks and accomplishing a
difficult task. Kuroda assumed office on 20 March exactly on the Spring Equinox
(Aries Ingress) in which Jupiter is placed in the 8th house
of monetary policies. By nature, Jupiter is expansive and risk taking so that
the new policy is not surprising. Progressing the Aries Ingress chart to 4 April (the date the new policy was announced)
brings Saturn to the Ascendant triggering the meaning of the Saturn-Jupiter-Pluto
Yod. Saturn-Pluto can refer to facing restrictions because of hidden or
self-destructive weaknesses while Jupiter at the apex provides the courage to
take action for a broadening and freeing objective.
There are
never any loose ends in astrology as we will see in this case too. The stars on
the horizon axis give us the same message. On the Ascendant (27li37) is Izar of Bootes (28li18) while on the Descendant
is Al Pherg (27ar). (Coincidentally,
the same stars occupy the horizon axis for the current New Moon of 10 April)
Al Pherg, in the upright fish that
marks cuspal Aries, is held or tied to Alrisha (Katain), the knot that binds
our primordial past to our future. Al Pherg articulates the desire, effort
and emergence process from the tormenting emotional and psychic forces common
to sidereal Pisces. Al Pherg can indicate that one is almost there, but not
quite, with a final barrier yet to be crossed before one can truly emerge.
Something residual must be released or accepted, which can be from a
long-established genetic, cultural or evolutionary history [2].
Izar, Epsilon of Bootes, impels us
to become perfectly centered to take a leap of faith through a portal
that can lead to a place of far greater beauty and fulfillment than we had
known before [3].
Finally,
since the eclipse is conjunct Kuroda’s Sun-Mars, here will look at the Sabian
symbols [4] of the eclipse Moon (Phase 216) and Kuroda’s radix Sun (Phase 212) to see that they tell
us the same story in a beautifully pictorial way.
PHASE 212
(SCORPIO 2°): A DELICATE BOTTLE OF PERFUME LIES BROKEN, RELEASING ITS
FRAGRANCE.
The
accidental nature of opportunities that impel one to break away from a past,
the remembrance of which is still poignant and cherished.
PHASE 216
(SCORPIO 6°): THE GOLD RUSH TEARS MEN AWAY FROM THEIR NATIVE SOIL.
This symbol
dramatizes the capacity in man to tear himself away from the known and the
familiar, gambling everything on a vision or dream.
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